Bigfoot
by Catherine Antrim
Summary: Mulder and Scully go camping
"Mulder, what are we doing here," Scully said into the darkness. It wasn't really a question and Mulder didn't answer it. Scully could smell the nylon of the tent and the residual scent of campfire smoke.

She thought back to their conversation two days ago, back in their warm bright office.

"Bigfoot, Scully, four sightings this month. Do you know what it would mean to finally have conclusive evidence?" His hair was wild, sticking up in the front as he raked his hands through it. Scully picked up a photo from the edge of the haphazard pile on his desk. She saw a blurry shadow and what appeared to be a tree.

Blurry photos seemed to be all the evidence he had, and a few interviews from backpackers who, Scully suspected, may have seen a bear.

But of course he already had plane tickets and diagrams and borrowed camping supplies. And of course she was now somewhere in the forest of Washington state, thinking wistfully of the hotel room they had slept in the night before. The shabby furniture and lumpy bed suddenly seemed luxurious in comparison.

A strong gust of wind hit them and there was an unpleasant cracking sound and the top of the tent seemed to move closer to their faces. Scully shuddered involuntarily and Mulder moved closer to her, spooning against her for warmth. The air was peaceful for a moment and she could feel her partners heartbeat, his chest against her back.

She has just closed her eyes, thinking maybe camping wasn't so bad, when another, stronger, wind struck them and the tent decided it could hold on no longer.

Scully startled awake, Mulder swearing beside her and trying to free himself from the tangle of sleeping bags and nylon.

Once outside, they stood shivering, flashlights out, surveying what had once been their tent. Scully shrugged her coat on over her pajamas and handed Mulder his.

The sky was mostly gray, with a few stars visible in the gaps between the clouds. It was so dark here. At night the city seemed to glow orange, the buildings of dc stayed lit up all night.

Mulder was swearing again, trying to figure out where to stick the tent poles, when Scully heard it. A crunching of leaves, just outside the clearing in which they had set up camp.

"Mulder?" She said softly.

"Mmm," he didn't look up.

"What was that noise?"

Mulder shut off his flashlight and came to stand beside her, eyes searching the forest seeing nothing but the dark silhouettes of trees.

"I don't hear-" he began, but Scully hissed and he fell silent. He heard it too, the cracking of leaves and twigs, heavy foot steps from somewhere just out of sight.

Mulder motioned for her to follow, leading her silently towards the sound. Scully reached for her gun, pointing it out into the dark.

Mulder flicked his flashlight back on, scanning the forest for any movement.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by an animal's howl, strange and high, Scully felt her skin crawl. Mulder reached for her free hand, curling his fingers around hers. The moved closer to each other.

Then something burst into the clearing, Mulder pointed his flashlight and Scully her gun, just in time to see a small coyote disappearing into the woods on the other side. Scully breathed a sigh of relief.

"See Mulder, not Bigfoot."

Mulder just shrugged and sat down by the still glowing embers of their fire. "Not this time," he said, adding fresh wood to the fire. Scully came to sit beside him, the ground was was cold and everything smelt of pine and smoke, but she felt more relaxed now and the smell was comforting.

She had gone camping a lot as a child, she and brothers always had looked forward to their family's yearly trip, though Melissa hadn't liked it and would spend the week reading glossy magazines in the back of their parents car. Dana and her brothers would swim in the lake during the day and and roast marshmallows at night. Bill taught her how to make a fire and Charlie told ghost stories and she pretended not to be scared. She always returned home with exponentially more freckles than she had left with.

Now her eyes focused on Mulder, who was having little luck restarting the fire.

"Here," she said, putting smaller sticks on the hot coals and blowing softly on them. "You need kindling to start a fire."

Mulder watched as she slowly added more sticks.

"I was never a boy scout," he admit, leaving the growing glow of the fire briefly to go retrieve their sleeping bags from the ruins of the tent.

"I wanted to be," admit Scully, when he returned. The fire was blazing now and Mulder could see her freckles in the orange light. "A Boy Scout that is. My brothers were- they would go canoeing and camping and learn what wild plants you could eat. Girl Scouts just got the cookies."

Scully lay back on her sleeping bag beside Mulder, the clouds had cleared away to reveal the entire Milky Way splashed across the night sky.

"They are good cookies," Mulder sleepily beside her. Scully murmured her agreement.

They woke up covered in dew, the fire almost out. While searching for more dry wood, they found that their campsite was surrounded on all sides by footprints, almost human but impossibly large.


End file.
